Selahattin Demirtaş: The party they wanted to liquidate has come to the point of liquidating their rule

Şerif KARATAŞ
İstanbul

Five years have passed since the arrests of HDP MPs following the legislation of revoking their MP status, which AKP brought up, MHP supported, and CHP endorsed by saying “it is against the Constitution but Yes.” 12 MPs, amongst who were prior HDP co-leaders Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, were detained and then arrested on November 04, 2016. We interviewed HDP’s arrested previous co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş on the anniversary of the November 04 operation. Still being kept in jail despite the verdict of ECHR, Demirtaş responded to our questions through his lawyers, he stated “We have grown HDP by the people’s support and the devoted work of our friends outside. The party, that they wanted to liquidate, has now reached to the point to liquidate AKP-MHP rule.”

‘WELL THEN, HOW HAVE OUR ‘LOCAL AND NATIONAL’ RICH PEOPLE GAINED THE MONEY?

’Starting the interview with “First, I would like to convey my sincere greetings to all Evrensel readers and laborers,” Selahattin Demirtaş answered our questions regarding under what motives the November 04 was carried out five years ago, with the following statements: “As you noted, five years have passed since the November 04, 2016 political coup operations.  Within this period, many serious political, economic and social changes and developments have happened in Turkey, in the Middle-East and in the world in general. Developments are so fast that the world we left outside is not the same as that of today any more. Everything, but I mean everything, is changing fast, transforming. As exploitation and impoverishment become layered in global scale, the wealth of a handful rich could exceed the total wealth of 7 billion people. The person called Elon Musk is about to become the first dollar trillionaire of the world. In other words, the wealth of only this person is nearly the ten times of 2022 budget of The Republic of Turkey. According to an argument, Binali Yıldırım’s wealth in Netherlands only is said to be 26 billion dollars. If we perform an estimate, starting from this point, the wealth of a handful of AKP governors and the companies, called the quinary gang, in total, is worth 10 times that of Turkey. Well then, these politicians of AKP, have they got their wealth by way of their salaries from the state? Of course not. We know more or less how they got it. It is clear that the global rich, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, have got more and more wealth by ways of both trading and speculative money operations. All this is well, but how is that our “local and national” rich got their money? The answer to this question is the real motive for the operation conducted on us.”

‘MONEY AS LARGE IN AMOUNT AS THAT OF TURKEY, WITHOUT A DOUBT, HAS BEEN STOLEN’

Continuing in more detail, Demirtaş elaborated as follows “The elite of AKP governors got associated with so much corruption and bribery that have ever happened in our history. In the old days, the state governors used to steal a little from the state. But, in AKP period, the state was stolen completely, a little was left behind. So aggravated and so serious crimes have been committed for that aim that, when all the truth is spread around one day, which will absolutely be brought into light, people will not believe what they see and hear, they will be shocked. The voters who have voted for AKP in good faith will feel ashamed of having a part, even inadvertently, in such huge crimes and sins. Because, I am not talking about little theft, I am talking about such a huge amount of money as that of ten times of Turkey’s having been robbed.” Keeping on criticising the government, Demirtaş said “In fact, this is not the only aggravated crime committed by the country’s rulers. Specially the gangs illegally supported in Syria, the para-military groups established in secrecy at home, the bombs made explode in Diyarbakır, Suruç, Ankara in the hope to win on elections, the people thrown into fire alive, the cities destroyed and burned, the elevated assault and violence under the pretext of barriers and ditches, and the July 15 coup attempt whose “myth” is yet to be disclosed. We can go on and on, even just these few examples are blood freezing in terms of demonstrating the gravity of the crimes the government has been associated with.”

Continuing, Demirtaş stated “So, in order to prevent the uncovering of the truth and the approach of the day of reckoning, it was necessary for AKP and Recep Tayyip Erdogan both to stay in power and to gather all the power in one hand. But there was an obstacle in front of it, HDP. This situation had emerged in the purest manner after the June 07, 2015 general elections. In that case, for the sake of AKP and Erdogan, that obstacle had to be taken out of the way no matter what. However, due to the support and sympathy of the public opinion towards HDP, they could not have their way to do operations in any way. July 15 coup attempt presented the opportunity as a blessing from the God for an operation they were so desperately looking for. Making use of the scary and chaotic situation caused by the coup attempt to carry out his plans, Erdogan proclaimed first a state of emergency and gathered all powers in himself. Then he took the steps by decree to render permanent the system he had established. But that was not even enough, Erdogan still did not feel secure enough completely. Right in that period, making an agreement in secrecy on a new plan with his partner Devlet Bahçeli they decided to formalize the single-man-regime through a constitutional change. In order to carry out this secret and dirty agreement, they needed at least 50% yes vote in the referendum. And the obstacle in front of this was again HDP.”

‘IMPOVERISHED MASSES STARTED QUESTIONING THE AKP-MHP RULE, AND BREAKING AWAY FROM IT” 

Assessing the situation of economy, Demirtaş said “However, the times had changed and the situation was different. Economy was devastated and the impoverished masses started questioning and breaking away from the AKP-MHP rule. From this time on, not just us, even if they throw all those MPs in National Assembly into jail, they will not be able to avoid an historical defeat in the upcoming elections. Because, we have not surrendered to their rule, we have not taken a step back, and we have resisted. We defied them by sacrificing our freedom. We have grown HDP by the support of people and the devoted work of our friends outside jail. The party, that they wanted to liquidate, is now in a position to liquidate AKP-MHP rule. If HDP had fallen apart, there would have left no opposition. Then, Erdogan would have continued his reign. So, that is the reason why Erdogan and Bahçeli have such never ending animosity and rage towards HDP. The force that destroys all kinds of their dirty tricks and insidious plans, in every occasion, is HDP.”

Stating “The November 04 2016 political liquidation operation has first been negated and then reversed by the resistance and decisive stand of, first of all our people, and our friends in jails,” Demirtaş elaborated on his statement as “The situation Erdogan and his partners are in is a complete defeat. As we have, even by now, been a symbol of resistance and dignity, Erdogan has guaranteed to be mentioned in history as an authoritarian, tyrant figure. This will not change even if they keep us in jail for twenty more years. The situation has now been clarified to be done with. Erdogan’s rule is counting its days. It is now up to the ability, courage and foresight of the democracy forces that are responsible to build the new.”